Daughter of Athena
by jojojojomo
Summary: Jackie seams to be a normal demi-god, but prophecies and newcomers change things. Will her friendships stay true? Will the newcomers help or destroy?


Daughter of Athena

Ben

Okay, my name is Ben. I never asked for this to happen. Never. I never asked for a Cyclops to appear at my door and kill my mom. At almost the same moment a satyr appeared. He grabbed my hand and we ran, the Cyclops running after us. It seemed to be crushing houses. I instantly felt for the people inside of those homes. I screamed. The satyr yelled at me to shut my trap and keep running.

"Where are you taking me?!" I asked alarmed watching Alabama disappear.

"Chicago, then to Camp Half-Blood." The satyr said.

"Chicago?" I asked. "Camp Half-Blood?"

"Yep, it's my job to get young demi-gods and to Camp Half-Blood safely." The satyr growled.

"I'm sorry who are you?" I asked.

"Bloomer." He growled.

"Right, I'm…" I started.

"Ben." Bloomer finished.

"You know me?"

"Yep, I've been tracking you for eight months."

"Oh my." I muttered and stopped talking. We took a bus all the way to Chicago. Bloomer then took me to a shabby house in an almost abandoned neighborhood. Bloomer had put on pants to hide his goat legs before we got on the bus. He knocked. A frazzled looking man opened the door.

"I'm looking for Mia." Bloomer said.

"Mia," The man called. "Some boys are here to see you!" A girl about my age of fifteen ran downstairs. The man left the doorway. The girl had long amber hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. She was wearing a blue t-shirt and khaki pants. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" She asked in a low voice.

"No, I do not believe you do." Bloomer said casually.

"What do you want?" Mia asked.

"We want you to come with us to Camp Half-Blood." I said when Bloomer opened his mouth to answer.

"Why?" Mia asked.

"Yea, Bloomer why?" I agreed.

"You are both demi-gods." He started. "It means that you are half human half god, Greek gods. They are real! I have no idea who's child you are, but if you come to Camp Half-Blood you can find out you will stay there for the only the summer, I'm pretty sure Jackie will explain everything when we get there."

"I believe you." I stated. "You have freaking goat legs."

"I do too, is it okay if I tell my dad?" Mia asked.

"It's your choice." Bloomer shrugged. It took nearly an hour to explain where Mia was going and he had Mia with. After that Mia collected her things and we got out of there. Bloomer had three one way plane tickets to a place he didn't let us see where and from there we walked a few miles to get to this arch. It was marked with many Greek symbols. I weirdly I could read them. The arch said Camp Half-Blood.

"Jackie!" Bloomer called. A girl with her nose in a book looked up. She had green eyes with a circle of gold around her pupils. She had short brown hair and was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans she was in bare feet. She walked over to us and smiled.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood." She said still smiling. She put a bookmark in the book and put it down on the stump she was sitting on before. "I'll be showing you around and then we will give you both a bunk in the Hermes cabin when waiting for you to be claimed." She said. She showed us all the cabins that weren't hard to tell apart by the meaning that there were names on all of them.

"Why do we have to wait to be claimed?" Mia asked.

"Sometimes it takes the gods a day to realize that one of their children is in Camp Half-Blood." Jackie explained. We walked back to the Hermes cabin. Voices yelled things from inside. Jackie opened the door.

"Shut up!" She yelled. All voices stopped. "We have two new people staying here until they are claimed. This is Mia." She said pointing to Mia. "That's Ben." She said pointing to me. The Hermes cabin was very spacious, but with the twenty so kids there it easily looked cramped. "Ben will be on the top bunk above Jacob." Jackie said. A boy with greasy hair raised his hand and I made my way toward that bunk. "Mia you will be below Emma." A girl with pink hair in pigtails raised her hand and Mia made her way to her bunk. "If you need me you know where to find me." Jackie left.

"We do?" I asked, but she had already gone

"The stump or the Athena cabin." Jacob said. "And at campfire though everyone is expected to be at that and dinner."

"Right, does she do this often?" I asked.

"What often?" Jacob asked.

"Show new people around." I muttered.

"Yes, she has been here since she was five so that would be ten years, so she has the most experience. Well, the most except Chiron our teacher and camp director thing. Well some people have more experience but they don't live at camp anymore." Jacob plugged in headphones to his MP3 player and stuck them over his head. I got the point no more questions. I decided to take the time to explore the camp a bit, just walk around until dinner. So, I got up and was about to leave when this older dude stopped me.

"What did I do something wrong?" I asked alarmed.

"No," He said. "I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Kyle. I run the Hermes cabin so; it's my job to give you your camp T-shirt." He handed out a orange shirt to me.

"Uh thanks." I said. I sat on a bench overlooking the sea and looked out. I missed my mom. Jackie walked up to me and sat next to me.

"I heard that the Cyclops that found you killed your mother." She said, tenderly putting her hand on my shoulder. "I know how you feel a hydra killed my father and stepmother when it tried to get to me. My father could see through the mist so he saw the hydra my stepmother knew about everything and she saw what my father was trying to do and protected me. Bloomer here got me out just in time. I was four at the time. It took us a year to get here dodging monster at every corner. If you ever need anyone to talk to I'll be here." She made a move to leave, but I put out a hand to stop her.

"Thank you." I said and move my hand allowing her to leave. She lingered for a second.

"Your welcome." She said and left. I watched her run into the Athena cabin and come out with a backpack. I watched as a boy reached out and grabbed her shoulder and said something. She nodded and gestured to her backpack.

"You don't have much of a chance with her you know." Said a female voice from behind me. I whipped my head around.

"Who are you?" I spit out.

"Katherine daughter of Aphrodite." She said with a smug smile. "Believe me I know love." I disliked this girl.

"I'm sorry; could you just leave me alone?" I spit.

"No, I need to help you with your love problems and when you don't have a chance with a girl, you must listen." She instructed. I saw Jackie starting towards us.

"Maybe I'll listen later, much later." I growled.

"No!" She was getting frustrated. "I need to help you with…." She broke off. "Hi Jackie."

"Interrogating boys Katherine?" She laughed.

"Helping boys." She corrected.

"Whatever." Jackie rolled her eyes and left.

"See no chance." Katherine said. I couldn't take it anymore I got up and left. Jackie then came running over to me.

"What?" I asked. More and more people gathered around me.

"Nice!" One girl yelled slapping hands with a boy standing next to her.

"Ben, you are a son of Ares." Jackie said. "Your cabin is over there go meet some of your siblings." Now I was really confused. Then I saw the shinning thing that hung over my head when I glanced in the lake. That's how claiming works. I followed my siblings to the Hermes cabin in where I collected my things getting ready to shift cabins. I said goodbye to Mia and Jacob. I walked with my siblings to the cabin.

"Hey, Ben." Said the girl that high fived the other boy. "I'm Vivian our cabin leader. In other words I'm in charge of this cabin, my rules must be followed."

"I wasn't questioning your authority." I quickly said.

"Good," She smiled. "I like you." Then a centaur trotted up to us.

"This is Ben, son of Ares?" He asked.

"Yep, Chiron." Vivian said proudly.

"Uh, hi." I muttered.

"Has everyone made you feel welcome?" He asked.

"Mostly…" I said trailing off.

"Katherine?" He asked knowingly.

"Yeah." I muttered.

"This happens all the time." Chiron sighed trotting away.

"That was weird." I said.

"Tell me about it." Vivian said sighing. She helped me set up on one of the bunks. I set back out on my walk and was looking at the trees when I ran into someone. It was Jackie with her nose in the book.

"Oh my gods!" Jackie exclaimed. "I didn't see you there!"

"Well you were reading…" I said.

"I know my way pretty well and if I'm not at a really good part I can sort of see over the top of the book." She explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry it's me that wasn't looking where I was going." I felt bad. Just then a huge bell was rung.

"Okay dinner time." She said picking up her book and continued walking. "Your table is the one with swords crossing stuck to the front." She noted and kept walking. I went to that table.

"Just think at it and whatever you want will appear. Also, give half of it to the gods by putting half in the fire." Vivian told me.

"That's weird, but okay." I muttered. I did think at it. I wanted a hamburger with fries and Coca Cola. It all appeared. I scraped half of everything into the fire after Vivian. It was there too and it was really good just how I was thinking it would taste. After dinner it was a hour until campfire, so I decided to catch up with Mia.

"Hey Mia!" I called. "What's up?" She stopped swishing her amber hair.

"Nothings up. I just wanted to take a walk." Mia said.

"Um, I'm sorry?" I felt like she was blowing me off.

"You can come if you want." She said.

"Oh uh thanks." I mumbled. We walked together. Then there was this bright light coming from Mia's head and she was transformed into a beautiful white Greek style dress. Her hair was piled up on her head some spilling off in a graceful way. "Mia you've been claimed…." I broke off.

"By Aphrodite." Jackie finished for me. I looked at her.

"You have a tendency to pop out, out of nowhere." I told her. She laughed.

"You have a tendency of saying the random things." She shot back.

"I can live with random." I smiled. Mia had already been whisked away by her pack of siblings.

"Jackie!" A group of three girls yelled. "How many new people are we going to get!" They laughed. She walked up to them and they all walked to the campfire. I felt alone. I sat with my siblings at campfire. We sang songs and had a very good time. I went to my bunk and fell into a deep sleep. The problem with sleep though is that is comes with dreams.

_ I was running. I didn't know what by I just knew I had to get out of there. A female's voice screamed for help. I whipped around to run back to her, but my feet would move. I looked down only to see that my feet were turning slowly to stone. The pain was almost unbearable. Then a giant walked up crushing everything in his wake. His foot came over my head and was being brought down. _

I woke up covered in sweat. Didn't dreams have some sort of meaning? I had no idea. Vivian woke up and saw me breathing heavily and wide awake. She got up.

Mia

I really enjoyed being a daughter of Aphrodite. My siblings were very welcoming. The only one I really didn't like was Katherine. Lora made me really feel welcome. She was so much like me except she had blonde hair. Katherine was of course the leader of our cabin. Lora tells me that she is thinking of challenging Katherine for the leadership role. I told her do what you have to do, but if you lose, Katherine will never forgive you.

"You really think so?" Lora asked.

"Yeah, she will hide all your makeup and use it for herself." I muttered.

"No!" She gasped.

"Most likely." I replied.

"Then I change my mind." She decided. "No challenging for me." I rolled my eyes. Then I thought about my feelings for Ben. The first time is saw him I thought he was cute. Then I thought about how he was the child of a war god.

"Who do we usually date?" I asked. "You know I'm just curious."

"Well, we date anybody really, anybody that is not your sibling." Lora said.

"Oh." I didn't smile, but I was in my head.

"Mia!" Katherine shouted. "Let's go we need to get to capture the flag."

"Okay cabins split in half." Chiron said. Everyone made two teams inside their cabin. "One half goes to red one half to blue." I went to the blue side with Lora and to my pleasure Ben. I saw that Jackie and three other girls that were talking to her were also on our side. I saw that a girl that Ben recognized as Vivian was also on our side. "Okay each team will get ten minutes to strategize! One two three go!" Chiron shouted.

"Okay, Athena team what's your plan?" Vivian asked.

"Ares cabin leads the attack team; Apollo cabin leads the defense team." One boy said.

"The defense should hide in trees and bushes and a few should be in plain sight guarding the flag." Another girl said.

"Athena cabin is going on defense." Jackie said.

"Hephaestus cabin is on offense." A girl in Jackie's circle said.

"Okay offense over here." Vivian said. Half of our team went to stand over there and went over the attack plan.

"Where does Aphrodite go?" I asked Lora.

"Half of us go on offense the other half on defense." Lora said.

"We are on offense?" I asked as some of us went over to defense.

"Yes." Lora muttered and walked over to that circle.

"… Aphrodite will distract the other team's defense while Hephaestus and Ares try to steal the flag." Vivian was saying.

"Red team is ready to start the games! Blue team has made the ready signal too! Grab your weapons and start when the whistle blows!" Chiron yelled. Everyone ran to get weapons, I grabbed a sword that was light enough for me carry. I didn't have any battle training so, I just planned to swing it at people.

"Won't this hurt people?" I asked.

"The weapons are blunted and we avoid fatal blows." Lora explained.

"Fringe!" Vivian yelled. "Hephaestus team ready?" The girl that spoke for the Hephaestus cabin nodded. Fringe had brown shoulder length hair and was wearing battle armor.

"Here you go." Vivian said and gave me a set of armor. I quickly put it on.

"Wait, I have one question about the game plan!" I said as she turned to go.

"What?" She groaned.

"How do we distract the other team?" I asked.

"Look pretty." Vivian growled. "Ben! I need to talk to you!" Ben looked up and walked over to her.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"How much experience do you have fighting?" Vivian asked. Ben flipped some of his long blond hair out of his face showing his bright blue eyes.

"I used to play fight with my neighbor why?" He answered.

"I have a job for you, I need you to…" They began to walk away and went out of ear shot.

"Who are you giving candy eyes?" Lora asked.

"What? Huh? Um, no one." I stuttered. "I uh wasn't uh looking at uh anyone. Uh, no one uh at all."

"Lovebird." Lora cooed. Then a whistle blew and we all started running.

"Remember 5 minute peace so you can place the flag!" Chiron yelled at our retreating backs. "The bell will ring when time is up!"

"Now I'm scared." Lora said.

"Nah, this is fun it's like a Nerf war with my brother." I said.

"Where is your brother then?" Lora asked.

"He died in a car crash two years ago." I said choking back tears.

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss." Lora said touching me on the back.

"Would you two stop talking when the game starts?" Vivian growled.

"Yes." Lora and I both said. Then a bell rang.

"Gods I hope Jackie had time to place the flag." Vivian grumbled.

"She did." Ben said appearing out of the shadows. "I saw her stick it in the ground."

"Good, now we a defense the point." Vivian growled. Then a twig snapped.

"I swear to Ares if that was any of you I will personally make you get caught." A boy growled.

"Wasn't me." I and Lora muttered. Everyone said it wasn't them.

"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" Vivian bellowed. "CHARGE!" We all ran stright ahead with our swords pointed out. Then a volley of arrows flew over us and hit the approching red team.

"Wow, I had no idea the trap would worked so well." Ben said a our team and archers that had jumped down from their trees grabbed all the read team and brought them to jail.

"Gods can't the team that I am on win at least once?" One red team member prayed.

"Pick the right side then." The boy taking him to jail said.

"Blue offense follows me!" Vivian said loudly. Everyone began to make their way to the blue base and jail. Once we tramped our way to base, Vivian, who was first, was greeted by a sword held to her throat.

"Oh, it's you." Jackie said lowering the sword.

"The plan went perfectly." One boy said stepping up.

"Great." Jackie glowed. The boy handed his prisoner to Vivian and everyone with red team members made their way to jail, including Ben. The boy who had spoken to Jackie first then began to talk to her in a hushed tone. Fringe walked up and joined the conversation. Then a girl with dark brown hair that was in a high ponytail, and brown eyes joined. I moved closer to catch bits of the conversation.

"….Cameron glad you could join us." Fringe was saying. The girl with the ponytail nodded.

"Jack was just saying that there might be more of the offense out there." Jackie put in.

"As in they went out in two groups?" Cameron asked.

"Exactly, what we are thinking." The boy, Jack, said.

"Fringe could you put together a small group of people and try to find this other group. If there even is one another group?" Jackie said.

"Are you questioning me?" Jack asked a smile on his face.

"No, I'm just saying they could have put more on defense and thinned out their offense." Jackie stated.

"I know." He said swooping down and kissing her on the cheek. I blushed knowing this conversation wasn't for my ears and started to move away.

"What if you took Aphrodite cabin?" Cameron said. I moved closer.

"What?" Fringe said her voice full of steel. "They can't fight."

"Some of them can use charm speak." Cameron stated standing strong.

"What are they supposed to do? Ask the red team to put themselves in jail?" Fringe laughed.

"Maybe." Cameron said.

"You're kidding right?" Fringe asked.

"Nope." Cameron smiled. "Dead serious."

"How are we supposed to know who can charm speak and who can't?" Jack asked jumping in.

"Lora can," Jackie said surprising me. "Jane can also, Polly can, and Daniela can."

"Not an army I'll take them, if I can bring some of Ares and Hephaestus too maybe some Apollo." Fringe said.

"Maybe?" Jack said offended.

"Maybe?" Cameron said. "You're kidding right? Maybe?"

"I was just messing with you." Fringe laughed. "Totally Apollo."

"How many of defense are you going to take?" Jackie asked. "I need as many as I can get if there really is…." She stopped for a second looking at Jack. "If there really is a second offense." She finished. "Not trying to offend you, honey."

"None taken." Jack said smiling.

"What about new girl?" Cameron asked. "Can she charm speak?"

"Don't know, but she can eavesdrop." Fringe stated. I blushed knowing I was caught.

"Aw let her be, who didn't eavesdrop when they were new?" Jack said with a lazy smile.

"Hey, Mia can you, you know charm speak?" Jackie asked.

"I don't know I've never tried and I'm not exactly sure what you are talking about." I said.

"Well then, you won't go on this mission and when we are back at camp maybe I'll explain it to you." Jackie offered. "Maybe you could go over some things with Lora."

"That sounds nice." I said smiling at the offer.

"Fringe, get toghter who you are going to take and move out A.S.A.P." Jackie said.

"Yes ma'am." Fringe said saluting.

"Gods, Fringe really?" Jackie asked laughing. "You're making me sound old!"

"Cameron, Jack you're with me." She said. "Henry, Nora, Maria, Ben, Fred, Vivian, Ian, Jane, Polly, Lora, and Daniela, come on!" All the people she called lined up. They all marched off the search for the other offense. I stood beside Jackie as we watched our small gang march off. I looked at her.

"What?" She asked me.

"I didn't know you where dating." I said still looking at her.

"Well get used to it. There are a lot of get togethers and break ups in this camp."

"Um." I mumbled I didn't know how to respond to that.

"Capture the flag, the game we play every single freaking Friday." A girl with shoulder length dirty blonde hair said, walking up to us.

"Hey Aleah." Jackie said to the girl.

"Hey." She muttered. "We just wait right?"

"Sadly, yes." Jackie said. "Waiting is the best part."

"Totally!" She said with too much sarcasm.

"Mia, this is my sister Aleah. Aleah, this is Mia daughter of Aphrodite." Jackie said introducing us.

"Hey, Mia." Aleah said warmly.

"Hi, Aleah." I said returning the smile.

"Guys," Jackie said worried. "The second offense was true and Fringe didn't find them. We did."

"Oh my gods." Aleah said turning to face the oncoming red team.

"They like have no defense if this is their second offense." I observed.

"Gods they left Kyle!" Jackie cried out.

"We might very well be screwed." Aleah noted.

"No kidding." Jackie answered.

"Uh, I found Fringe's people." I said nodding to my left. Fringe's people little army was flanking them from behind.

"Archers fire!" Jackie ordered.

"Swords people charge!" Aleah shouted.

"We stay back?" I asked.

"We stay back." Aleah agreed.

"As a last defense." Jackie added.

"As a last defense." Aleah agreed.

"As a last defense." I repeated a little half heartily. We watched a more and more red team members were taken to jail.

"I'm going." Jackie said suddenly.

"No, that plan was a last resort!" Aleah said intensely.

"If I know anything about Kyle it's his work ethic." Jackie muttered.

"I agree, but do you think it will work?" Aleah asked.

"If we can pick them off here then I will have a free run with the flag." Jackie said avoiding the question.

"Will it work?" I asked.

"…It's worth a try… If it doesn't then we will have to come up with something different." Jackie mumbled.

"Fine, I agree go." Aleah hesitantly said. Jackie bust into a run and climbed a tree. I saw her run across the branches and jump down on the other side of the red offense. She soon disappeared into the trees.

"What was the plan?" I asked.

"She would sneak up and take on Kyle alone." Aleah said not moving her gaze from the trees. "We hatched it a while ago if it was just Kyle left."

"Do you always plan for stuff like this?" I asked.

"Yes." She poised herself to run. I followed suit. "They are making their way to the flag, get ready to fight." She drew her sword. I did the same. Aleah then sprinted ahead and slashed at people. Every person she hit down was collected by someone and taken to jail. One girl ran at me sword out. I moved mine up to block her blow. She smiled at me and swung again. I easily paired. Her smile faltered and she paused for a minute. I took the moment and swung at her side. She was taken to jail. A boy who was three times my size was next. I was stuck pairing blows and Aleah ran up and took care of him. I took him to jail. Then all of the second red offense was in jail.

"Where's Jackie?" Jack asked me.

"She went to take on Kyle." I answered.

"Ugh." He groaned and left to talk to Fringe. Aleah walked over to me dabbing at a cut on her arm.

"Not back yet huh?" She said.

"Yeah, Jackie isn't back." I muttered.

"You should really take care of that." She said gesturing to my thigh. I looked down. I had a long cut across the bottom half of my thigh. I ripped off a part of my shirt and dabbed at it.

"Look!" Someone cried. I looked up to see a red flag running towards us.

"She did it!" Aleah cried. "We won!"

"Sorry," Jackie said smiling. "I had to wait until Kyle fell asleep." Everyone laughed. We did it. Blue team had won.

Fringe

We won capture the flag. Again. It's starting to get a little boring winning all the time, though the thrill of the battle always leaves me tingling. After capture the flag Hephaestus cabin had battle training, again. We are all so tired that we literally fall to our knees after giving one blow and receiving a blow.

"Chiron!" I hollered. "We have had enough!"

"Did capture the flag wear you out?" He said smiling kindly.

"Yes! Have you ever played the stupid game?" I exclaimed.

"Capture the flag is a game for war strategies and games." Chiron started. "It is for demi-gods and for that reason I have and had no reason to participate."

"Maybe give it a try and then maybe we won't have battle training directly after a type of battle training." I muttered loudly.

"Fine rest up," Chiron said. "But I expect you back at three o'clock sharp."

"That's in twenty minutes!" Kayla complained.

"Well hurry up or I'll make it five!" Chiron snapped.

"Yes sir." Noah mumbled trudging off. I shook my head in disgust. After eighteen minutes of rest we were back in the training arena.

"First pair is up." Chiron instructed. Noah and I stepped up. "Ready, set, start." We struck at each other pairing blow after blow. Soon after a half an hour of striking and colliding with swords we were panting. "Second pair is up." Chiron called when we were so tired we could barely lift our arms. Noah and I trudged slowly off the fighting part and into the waiting part. We fell into the dirt exhausted. Kayla and Mark were up next. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again Kayla and Mark were passed out. "Fifth pair is up!" Chiron called. I closed my eyes again. "Okay! Training is done!" Chiron called out, when all six pairs had gone. "Time for dinner." We all trudged slowly to the dining hall. We sat at our table and thought about food. I wanted a SunnyD and a piece of pizza. It appeared in front of me. I ate heartily, saving half for the gods which I soon put in the fire. After dinner we had an hour for socialization and then campfire. I went to a bench that I saw Jackie and Aleah sitting in. Cameron came over too.

"Hey guys." Cameron said.

"Hey Cameron." I said.

"Oh, hey." Aleah mumbled. Then she poked Jackie. "Jackie? Hey, Cameron and Fringe are here." She said poking her.

"Oh, hi." Jackie said looking up from the book. "I've been reading about Greek battle strategizes. They are very fascinating."

"Sounds like it." A girl said walking up. She had long chestnut colored hair and hazel eyes. She wore a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jean knee length shorts.

"Hey, Bree." I said waving.

"Was the daughter of Ares being sarcastic or she interested?" Jackie asked.

"Sarcastic." Bree said lamely.

"Some of you don't take this seriously." Aleah scolded.

"Hey! I didn't even hear what the book was about!" Bree murmured defensibly.

"Ancient Greek battle strategizes!" Jackie exclaimed. Then Mia walked up.

"Hey, um Fringe?" She muttered. "Could you um give me um some… if this is a bad time I can come again later?"

"Just spit it out." I groaned.

"Could you um maybe um you know um give me you know um battle training?" She stuttered.

"Ask Bree she's a natural." I said gesturing to Bree who was caught in the explanation of what the ancient Greeks did.

"Who?" Mia looked confused.

"Bree daughter of Ares, listening to daughters of Athena ramble?" I said helpfully.

"Oh, that helps I'll ask her when she isn't caught up in something." Mia said and practically ran out of there.

"Well, what do you think?" Aleah asked when Jackie was done explaining things.

"Uh, you know I really think it was cool, but the Athenians were more outdated and how are we even going to put that into modern times?" Bree asked.

"It's simple," Jackie started. "We asked Fringe to make more light weight armor and then we take the same plan, but put into the situation we are in."

"Um, light weight armor?" I asked.

"Yes, the armor we have is heavy and noisy." Aleah said.

"Situation we're in?" Bree asked.

"Yes, we take the plan, but put it to our area." Jackie groaned. Then a dinging sound came from Jackie's backpack. "Oh, it finished analyzing!" She dug around and came up with her laptop. Her laptop was covered with stickers. She opened it and typed in her password. She clicked on a file that was labeled: Battle Strategizes. She then closed the file and clicked on a file labeled: Monster Types. A red x showed up on the screen. Jackie growled in frustration and typed in a few words. A green checkmark showed up and pictures of monsters showed up on the screen. Red words then showed up on the screen.

"New monster type found?" Bree read.

"Yes, new monsters are popping up everywhere." Aleah explained as Jackie typed in more phrases. Jackie then went to the new monsters file.

"It's a giant." I said astonished. Jackie nodded grimly. She typed in "giant" in the type section.

"We don't know who he is though." Jackie said clicking on a locate button.

"Oh my gods!" Cameron cried out.

"He's two miles away." I stated.

"And making progress." Bree added.

"We have to tell Chiron!" Aleah yelled. Jackie grabbed the laptop and started to run with it to the big house where Chiron was. Everyone followed.

"Chiron!" Jackie screamed.

"What is going on?" Chiron asked calmly.

"A giant is two miles away and is coming straight towards camp!" Jackie replied.

"Show me." Chiron commanded. Jackie opened her laptop and pointed. "May the gods be with us." Chiron said sadly.

"Do you know who this giant is?" I asked.

"No, this giant is not known." Chiron looked at me. Jackie's laptop made a bleeping sound. She opened it and closed it sadly.

"He has an army with him." She sighed.

"Oh my gods." Bree muttered.

"Prepare the cabins for a battle and tell them this is not for training." Chiron ordered. "Jackie comes with me." Chiron said.

"Yes, sir!" We all answered and ran. My cabin quickly gave other cabins all the armor we had saving just enough for us.

"EVERYONE THAT DOESN'T HAVE ANY BATTLE TRAINING STAY BACK!" Chiron bellowed. "Ben, you come with me!" I saw Ben jumped up from the Ares cabin area and ran over. Chiron began to mutter to him in a low voice. He nodded and shook his head. Jackie walked over and began to say something. Chiron looked at her then muttered something. Jackie nodded, but looked upset. Jackie walked over to me.

"Any armor left?" She asked. I gave her a strange look.

"You have your own." I stated. She laughed and ran back to her cabin. Once Jackie grabbed her armor I called her back over to me.

"What?" She muttered.

"Why did you look so upset?" I asked. Jackie gritted her teeth.

"I have to protect the new people." She growled.

"We could lose a battle that way." I muttered. "From what I learned from you and what's worked in the past we need you up front fighting with us, but then again we can't lose anyone."

"I don't agree with this though, why not Bree?" She exclaimed.

"Chiron picked you." I muttered.

"Right, Chiron picked me." She sighed.

"GREEKS ATTACK!" Chiron bellowed. Everyone charged forward. The new people and Jackie hung back. As I ran I sliced through monsters like butter. Then I got to the giant. Cameron, Bree, Aleah, and I were circling it, trying to confuse him. Cameron would shoot an arrow at one point bringing it attention to her. Then Aleah would throw a knife at it and the giant would look at her. Then I would stab at it with my sword and the giant turned his big ugly face on me. Bree of course would then stab him and he would look at her. Soon blue blood was running out of wounds in the legs. Some of the blood ran over my foot and I felt my foot turn into a block of ice. I heated up my body heat and melted it. Then it hit me.

"It's the ice thingy giants! Ignore his breath and blood!" I hollered. I stabbed at him again releasing a huge flow of blood. The blood hit me right in my middle and I felt so much pain as it spread across my body. It hurt so much I couldn't concentrate to heat myself up and melt the painful ice. It hurt so much I couldn't move. Then the giant began to fall. My way. I tried to move, but the pain was too great and nothing worked. Cameron then ran around the falling giant and leaped at me we both fell so hard that the ice around me broke off not so far from where the giant thudded down.

"That was close." Cameron breathed.

"That was too close." Aleah scolded.

"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made." I mumbled.

"MOVE!" Bree screamed at us. We scattered as a giant foot was placed down right where we had been. A volley of arrows hit the giant making him roar in pain, he charged the Apollo cabin and Ares stabbed at him. The ice giant at that point got up and bellowed a war cry and charged randomly at a group of people, to my horror it was the new people and Jackie.

"Jackie," I screamed. "Behind you!" Jackie whirled around. She squared her shoulders and faced him head on.

"Scatter!" Jackie ordered the new people. They ran. The giant got distracted for a moment and stopped. Jackie then threw a branch at him and his attention was back on her. I began to run to help her. She slashed at his legs and as he reached down to feels his wounds Jackie jumped on his hand. As the giant moved his hand upwards utterly confused about his passenger. Jackie jumped off his hand with her slim sword out aimed at his chest. She collided into his chest her sword sinking in to the hilt. She hung there for a second and then began to fall down. She was still clinging to the hilt of her sword as the bronze cut through giant flesh. The giant roared in pain and he turned to dust, then Jackie was free falling. She screamed and brought a whistle up to her mouth and blew. A piercing whistle sound can from the whistle and a streak of brown flew up and caught her a few feet above the ground.

"Gods, I love pegi." I murmured. Jackie hopped off her pegasus and walked over to me.

"That was the worst experience of my life." Jackie muttered. "Thanks Champ." The pegasus nicked a response and flew up and circled the air above her. The other bigger giant was still tramping around. Jackie raised her hand and pointed towards the trees. All the new people ran for the cover of the trees. I started to run to the battle and noticed Jackie limping. I looked down and saw some sheared skin off her left thigh blood was dripping down her leg.

"What happened?" I asked.

"When Champ caught me I brought my sword down and I hit my thigh." She said gritting her teeth.

"Go to the cover of the trees you need help." I ordered.

"I'm fine." She insisted.

"Go." I growled. She turned and limped to the trees, Champ swooping in to help her get there. I ran towards the giant. I grabbed a spear from the rack and chucked it at the giant. He brushed off and looked angry.

"I think you just made him mad." Cameron stated running up beside me.

"I think he was already mad, just maybe he's a bit madder." I muttered. Aleah, Cameron, Bree and I charged the giant. Aleah and Bree grabbed his hand and were carried up. Cameron and I started to climb up his leg. When he reached his hand down to brush us off we grabbed his and jumped off at the shoulder area. All at once the four of us plunged our swords into his chest and hung on the hilts, our body weight dragging them down. We cut through a lot of giant flesh and we were all covered with blood. We all hit the hip bone and stopped our swords too buried in the bone to pull out or keep cutting through giant. Then the giant turned to dust. We all started to fall. Everyone screamed. We then fell onto a cushion made of arms.

"Thanks Hermes cabin." Aleah said. Then a stampede of monsters almost trampled us. We started to turn monsters to dust; everyone was slicing as fast as we could. Out numbered 6 to one once we killed one monster another took its place. A hellhound sunk it's fangs into my leg. I screamed and killed it. I thought I heard Aleah scream, but before I could check on her I was surrounded by 5 hellhounds. I spun in a circle killing all of them. What was left of the monsters retreated, after so many of them had been killed they didn't want to fight. We counted our dead. We had five total dead demi-gods. Kayla was the only one from my cabin. We had two from Hermes and two Aphrodite. We burnt their shrines that night. There were a lot of tears, but we won so there was happiness.

Aleah

Our camp is falling apart. People have died so our camp in swimming in sorrow. We are not focusing on battle training, we are not practicing our powers, and we are not even finding battle strategies. We are crying and wanting the people who gave their life to help the camp back. I can understand boyfriends and girlfriends. Even brothers and sisters, but the whole camp can't stop everything and mourn. Jackie is on crutches, because she cut a mussel in her leg that is needed for walking and is working on a fast recovery. She gave me her laptop to run the monster scanning program. I check every hour and every hour I get the same bleep. The bleep indicates a monster "nearby" (in other words a few states away). The monster is a hydra and it hasn't moved for three days. I have no idea what is happening.

"Aleah?" Harold asked. "Did you know it is time for campfire?" I sat there staring at the hydra dot

"I don't understand!" I burst out. "Is the hydra sleeping or dying?"

"Aleah, campfire, now." Harold ordered. I snapped the laptop shut and hopped off my bunk. I sulked at campfire. Why can't I figure this out?

"Jackie?" I asked after campfire. "What does a blue dot mean?"

"Blue dot?" She wondered. "Well, a black dot means something is dying and a green dot means alive and going, but a red dot means sleeping. A gray dot mean turned to stone…. I always delete those, because they are not moving, but a blue dot? I have no idea."

"So, the hydra is not dying, sleeping, alive, or turned to stone?" I asked.

"I guess so, I look at it later." Jackie muttered.

"Jackie!" Chiron hollered. "Big house now!" Jackie rolled her eyes and crutched that way.

"A blue dot…." I whispered to myself and fell asleep with that thought.

"Aleah!" Jackie screamed in my ear.

"Hmm? Jackie? Huh?" I murmured.

"Chiron told me to organize a search party and find the hydra!" She was freaking out.

"So?" I asked half asleep. Jackie sighed. "We can find out what happened to the hydra!" I realized.

"Wow you're slow in the mornings." Jackie muttered.

"Well I'm sorry if your brain doesn't work when your sister screams in your ear." I snapped.

"I whispered." Jackie muttered.

"Whatever." I groaned.

"Fringe, Cameron, Bree, you, and I are going." Jackie stated.

"We get to find out what the blue dot means!" I exclaimed.

"And you have proven my point." Jackie murmured.

"What point?" I asked.

"You are very slow in the morning." She laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"Let's go!" I cried. Jackie walked out of our cabin.

"Let's wake up Fringe first." Jackie decided.

"Jackie, what happened to your crutches?" I asked.

"Chiron got more nectar and it healed my thigh right up!" Jackie smiled. We got to the Hephaestus cabin. I knocked. A very groggy looking Fringe opened the door.

"Whatdayawant?" She slurred.

"We need you to go on a mission with us." Jackie explained.

"Oh, let's go." Fringe murmured. We woke up Cameron and then Bree. Soon we were all wide awake, armored and equipped with weapons.

"Nectar?" Jackie asked as we crept into the big house. We shook our heads and quickly went to the "heath room". It was more of a little room filled with nectar and ambrosia. We snuck into the room and took as much as two of our backpacks could carry. Two more was filled with food. The last one was filled with random supplies (money, drachmas, car keys, maps, Jackie's laptop it was Jackie's backpack, etc.) Jackie pulled out the car keys. "I drive." She stated. We quickly headed to the camp's lot. We picked the silver Wilde Honda and hopped in. Jackie was in the driver's seat, Fringe was in the passenger seat, Bree was in the right back seat, I was in the middle back seat and Cameron was in the left back seat. Jackie pulled out her fake drivers' license and slipped it into the glove compartment.

"I really hate not telling the truth to the police." Fringe muttered.

"We don't really have much of a choice." Jackie murmured. She turned the keys and started the car. She slowly backed out of the lot and sped out of camp. I unzipped Jackie's backpack and grabbed the map we printed on the hydra's exact location. I gave it to Fringe.

"You navigate." I said.

"Fine." She groaned. She looked down at the map. "It looks like we are heading to Oklahoma."

"Great, we can get there in about a week to five days if I am reading this map right." Cameron said holding the other map.

"Ready for an awesome car trip ladies?" Bree laughed.

"Totally ready." Jackie laughed back. She veered the engine. "Les go!" She played the radio and soon got news of a storm warning. "Oh no." Jackie complained.

"Alert, huge storm coming, please stay off the road and inside, if on a road trip please find the nearest inside area. Alert, huge storm coming, please stay off the roads and inside, if on a road trip please find the nearest inside area. Alert, huge storm coming, please stay off the roads and inside, if on a road trip please find the nearest inside area. Alert, huge storm coming, please stay off the roads and inside, if on a road trip please find the nearest inside area." The radio buzzed. Huge sheets of rain covered the car. Jackie slowed way down and turned everything that might help on.

"We have to find an inn." Cameron said panicked. "Zeus is angry."

"Let's pray not with us." I added.

"Everyone please keep an eye out for any type of inn." Jackie pleaded. We did and soon found a not bad hotel. We ran into it and went up to the front desk.

"We would like a room please." Bree said sweetly. The man looked up.

"Aren't you a bit young?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, we were on a road trip when the storm hit. We were all traveling together to um, Mammoth Cave." Jackie covered. The man shrugged.

"Good enough for me." He muttered. "That would be five hundred dollars per night."

"Oh my." Jackie muttered. "I thought you had to cut the price in half, because of the weather."

"Oh yeah, two fifty then." He recovered.

"Okay we will be staying one night so here is the two fifty." Jackie said as she handed him the cash. He gave her a room card in return.

"Have a nice stay." He droned on. We smiled and left in a hurry.

"Remember; lock the door and all possible entries." Fringe said. "We are not getting attacked tonight."

"Agreed." Jackie said. We got to our room and shut the door. We quickly locked any possible entry areas. Soon we had the place all tight and quickly fell asleep.

Cameron

When we awoke we returned the key and got out of the as quickly as possible. Jackie drove away from that place like it was on fire.

"Jackie, we might not want to be caught by the cops." I stated.

"Right." She laughed and slowed down.

"I'm hungry." Bree complained. "Give me the Goldfish."

"Cheddar?" Aleah asked as she dug around in one of the food backpacks.

"Sure why not?" She muttered and took the Goldfish. Jackie took a water bottle. Fringe took some peanut butter and crackers. We ate until we were full.

"Oh my gods!" Jackie exclaimed. "I can pick up Bluu!"

"I'm sorry?" Bree asked. "Blue, is a color."

"Not blue, Bluu my collie!" Jackie was really happy.

"The one that can see through the mist has bronze teeth so he can kill monsters, made possible by potions and spells." Aleah said helpfully.

"He's living with my aunt." Jackie explained.

"He was taken there so he could have his vet checkup." Fringe added. Jackie and Fringe fist bumped.

"About a few more miles?" I asked.

"No, she lives on this next road." She pulled into a vet office's driveway.

"She's a vet?" I asked.

"Yep." Jackie answered and jumped out of the car. We followed. As we opened the door a little ding rang out and we were greeted with the sounds of dogs barking.

"Bluu, enough!" We heard a woman scold. "How can I help…?" The woman said rounding the corner. "Jackie!" She exclaimed, running forward for a hug.

"Auntie Liza!" Jackie cried and they embraced.

"Fringe!" Liza gave Fringe a hug.

"It's nice to see you Ms Copperfield." Fringe responded.

"Oh please, call me Liza!" She grinned. "You are…?"

"I'm Cameron, this is Bree and that's Aleah." I said.

"Oh great!" She smiled at us warmly and gave us all a hug. "I suppose you would like Bluu now?"

"Yes, Auntie Liza I would enjoy to see him, I'm also here to pick him up." Jackie explained.

"Awesome! Why don't you stay the night now that you are here?" Liza asked.

"Sorry, Auntie Liza we are on a quest." Jackie said.

"Oh, then I'll grab you Bluu and you can be on your way." She said moving to the kennel area. Then a fluffy white fur ball of a kitten brushed past my leg and meowed.

"Aww." I cooed and picked it up. "Look at the baby." At that point Liza returned with Bluu.

"Do you like that kitten?" Liza asked me.

"Yes, I love her!" I exclaimed.

"You can have her." Liza shrugged. "Nobody wanted her, because she could see through the mist."

"I can really have her?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course you can have her; it's one less mouth to feed for me." Liza shrugged.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed and gave Liza a huge hug.

"Here you go Jackie." Liza said and let Bluu go from his collar. Bluu raced forward and slid all the way to Jackie. She reached down and scratched him behind the ears.

"Have you been a good boy?" She cooed. Bluu rolled and lay on his back. Jackie laughed and gave him a belly rub. Jackie got the leash and collar out from her backpack and walked Bluu out to the car with words of goodbye to her aunt. Josie (my kitten) didn't mind Bluu and Bluu didn't really mind Josie. We had been on the road for a day and then out of nowhere it started to sleet.

"Oh my gods! Are you kidding me?" Fringe grumbled.

"No, I can't see anything!" Jackie exclaimed. "We have to stop somewhere."

"Another hotel?" Bree asked her voice full of despair.

"Most likely." I answered for Jackie.

"Let's just keep going until we need to stop." Aleah said. Everyone agreed, so we kept driving. Soon we were driving on this old abandoned gravel road.

"Are you _sure_ that this is the right way?" Jackie asked. "Like positive?"

"That's what the map says." I muttered. Bluu growled, looking out the window into the dark sleet. Josie also hissed at the window.

"Maybe we're close?" Fringe whispered. Then a huge thud sound came from outside the car. "And then again maybe it is a different monster."

"DRIVE!" Bree bellowed. Jackie stepped on it and we sped away from the monster on our tail. Sadly, that only attracted its attention and it raced after us. I looked out the window, trying to grab a glimpse of the monster on our tail and when I did it wasn't pretty.

"It's a Cyclops!" I screamed.

"Well, this sucks." Fringe said.

"Well, it could be worse. It'd be a lot worse if we had a god after us." Aleah murmured.

"Let's just hope he doesn't flip the car." Jackie sighed. "That would be a horrible situation, plus explaining the damage to Chiron, we really need to get this taken care of." The Cyclops roared and grabbed the front of the car. Everyone screamed as he threw the car. We sailed through the air and landed on our tires. We rolled and the car was lying on the roof. Jackie was knocked out suffering only from cuts and Fringe was suffering from a horrible head wound, blood streaming down her face. Everyone in the back seat was only suffering from cuts from the broken windows when the car landed. Bluu and Josie were fine, because they got tossed under the seats.

"Is everyone okay?" Bree groaned.

"Jackie's out cold and Fringe is almost at that state, but I'm fine." Aleah said.

"I'm okay." I winced.

"We are so dead." Bree stated.

"Thanks for the confidence." Aleah snapped. Bree rolled her eyes.

"This is not a time to be fighting with each other there is a Cyclops out there trying to kill us and you are sitting there fighting! Show some gratitude!" I hollered.

"Gone, leaving." Fringe whispered.

"What?" Bree asked.

"Cyclops gone." She murmured. Aleah started to hand out ambrosia and nectar. We flipped over the car and when Jackie woke up we examined it.

"Do you think it is still drivable?" Jackie asked opening the hood. A cloud of smoke bellowed out from the hood.

"No." Said Aleah.

"I guess we will have to walk." Fringe stated.

"How close are we?" Bree asked. I checked the map.

"Three miles away." I answered.

"Great." Bree muttered.

"Stop with your snotty comments!" Aleah snapped.

"You stop snapping at me!" Bree shot back.

"I'm only snapping at you, because of your snotty comments all the dang time!" Aleah screamed.

"I'm the one making snotty comments? I think you should check you data base!"

"I don't have a data base with me! The only data base we have around here is Jackie's laptop!"

"I meant you head, idiot!"

"Oh I'm the idiot? Check again dumbo!"

"What did you just call me?!"

"STOP!" Fringe, Jackie and I all bellowed. They both looked down in shame.

"Okay now when we start walking you too are going to _stay_ away from each other understand?" Jackie ordered.

"Yeah." Aleah and Bree both said. I shouldered one of the food backpacks and as Jackie shouldered hers I saw a piece of paper stick out of one of the side pockets.

"What's this?" I asked taking it out of the pocket.

"Oh, um I have no idea." Jackie shrugged.

"Can I read it?" I asked.

"Sure." Jackie said. I opened the wadded up paper and read.

Jackie,

Your life may be in danger. I am almost positive that the prophecy is referring to you. Beware the sons of Ares. I will explain more when you get back to camp. Be careful and take care. Make sure to beware sons of Ares. When you get back to camp I'll let you read the prophecy, but until then be careful.

Chiron

"Jackie?" I asked. "You should read this, it is really serious."

"Okay." Frowning Jackie took the paper from me and read. Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh my gods." The paper was then passed around and everyone was astonished. Everyone was pondering the letter as we walked.

Bree

Reading Chiron's letter was like being hit in the face with a rock. It shocked us all including Jackie. We walked trying to figure out what in the world this prophecy meant. We walked the whole three miles to the hydra and no one had a clue what the letter was talking about and what prophecy.

"Ahhh, blue dot means frozen!" Aleah exclaimed.

"Yes, now we kill it and go back to camp." Jackie said. I took out my dagger from her backpack. I stabbed the hydra clean in the chest and it turned to dust.

"Now, how do we get back to camp?" Cameron asked.

"Pegi?" Fringe suggested.

"We are too far away." Jackie countered.

"Well then what do we do?" I asked.

"Iris message Chiron!" Aleah shot out.

"Okay, tell him to tell the Pegi to pick us up!" Cameron exclaimed. Jackie dug around in her backpack and came up with a squirt gun a prism and a flash light. She made a rainbow with the prism and flashlight and made a puddle with the water in the squirt gun under the rainbow. Then she dropped a drachma through the rainbow into the puddle and we were talking to Chiron.

"You want me, to send you Pegi?" Chiron asked.

"Yeah." Jackie stated.

"Okay, but for a price." Chiron stated.

"What's your price?" I asked.

"I'm thinking, Jackie can't come back to camp." Chiron shrugged.

"WHAT?" Aleah bellowed.

"Is this about the letter?" Jackie asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid that if you come back to camp, it will come true… faster." Chiron uttered.

"But if that happens I will never get to hear the prophecy." Jackie pleaded.

"Sadly, you have a point, but I can't let this happen if the prophecy is about you I will have to put all my faith into you to make the right choice. Not that I don't trust you, but the son of Ares must be cunning. He also, must deeply adore you or he's madly in love. I can't let the relationship grow and I know you're the go to person, so I can't cut you off from sons of Ares. If you come back to camp there will be nothing I can do to help save you from the horrors of being in a prophecy."

"I say let's let what needs to happen, happen. I will make sure that if the prophecy is about me I _will_ make the right choice." Chiron paused for a second then nodded. He agreed to send the Pegi. Soon, we were riding back to camp. The animals even got their own pegasus. Chiron greeted us when we landed.

"I think you should all hear this." He said and we all tramped into the attic. Chiron opened the Oracle's bracelet and grabbed out a little scroll of paper. He sighed and began to read out loud. "_A daughter of wisdom, who came here first, will undo what he has done, he will come to thirst for newly shed blood, gods will fall, rivers will flood, titans will ball, disaster will come, same with pain and hate, only wisdom's daughter will undo the done, many will help, many will fall, temptation will rise to tempt them all, the daughter of wisdom will bring love or despise, he will bring horror and death, he, Ares' son will turn and take his left, the son of war will make his choice, the one he loves or rejoice, right or wrong will dawn them all, until someone who loves will take a turn to kill, war's son will only grow stronger, if you continue to teach him forever yonder." _Chiron's hands shook and slipped the paper into his pocket.

"So, he's at camp?" I asked.

"Yes and we are making him grow stronger." Chiron whispered.

"I will bring love or despise?" Jackie mumbled.

"Jackie let's get you to the Athena cabin." Aleah said and she and Fringe grabbed her arms and pulled her to the cabin.

"This is a horrible prophecy." Cameron stated. I nodded.

Jackie

From the early days I remember nothing but running with Bloomer. I remember screaming and shadows. I remember monsters under the bed and I remember preschool everyone thinking I had something wrong with me, because I was seeing monsters outside. I was not a normal kid, I knew this. But I was little when I was scared I would sit in my cubby with my jacket and fall asleep. Only my dreams had no monsters. I felt alone, but somehow happy. I'd take joy from watching the clock tic. During school I would sit and watch the clock for all those hours wondering if I watched the clock all day it would make the monsters leave. I run home, I didn't want the monsters to get me. Hellhounds would follow me and I would cry. I cried a lot during my early years. I felt happy with the stars, like I had a million friends. My first friend was Bloomer. He took me away from the monsters and hid me from them and when I was five we arrived to an empty camp. I got personal training, but I missed people. I missed real people. I missed people that weren't half anything. I grew there Chiron my teacher for every grade. I was claimed when I was six. Then Fringe, who was the same age as me, came.

Ben

I watched Jackie get half dragged to her cabin after being gone for a week. I was terrified that something had happened. I walked up to Aleah and Fringe as they walked out of the cabin.

"What happened?" I asked trying to sound calm, even though I was freaking out.

"Nothing, her legs just fell asleep." Fringe murmured. Aleah looked at me with dagger sharp vision.

"What?" I asked her. She just looked at me with a look of disgust and she and Fringe walked back to the big house. I stood there with my mouth gaping. Mia walked up to me.

"Hey, whoa, shut your mouth you might swallow a fly." She said.

"I just got totally blown over." I muttered.

"Wow, um, you uh want to talk about it?" She stuttered.

"No." I stated.

"Okay, Ben, give me something to work off of." She snapped.

"You too?" I asked sadly.

"No! I'm so sorry I snapped at you!" She cried clinging to my arm. Just then Jack ran up the steps to the Athena cabin. He looked at me with a look of pure horror and raced into the cabin. Mia let go of me. "Wow that was harsh." She said.

"Same look Aleah and Fringe gave me expect Fringe tried to hide hers." I stated. I peeked in the window and saw Jack hugging Jackie and Jackie was crying.

"I don't want to be in the prophecy!" Jackie cried. "I had to beg to even come back to camp."

"Jackie, its okay, I'm sure you will make the right choice." Jack said.

"I know I will, I just want to know what will tempt me." She pulled away from him.

"Jackie…" He put his hands on her shoulders.

"I don't think I will make the right choice and I promised Chiron that I would! I don't even know who to trust anymore." Jackie sighed.

"Just heed Chiron's warning." He said turning her back around to face him.

"Beware the sons of Ares? How? I'm the go to person! How in the world am I going to pick out who I can't and can help or talk to? He's in the freaking camp! I don't know what to do!" She exclaimed.

"Pretend you're sick?" Jack suggested.

"No, I'll figure something out." Jackie sighed. "Just let me analyze the prophecy to find some more things out."

"Jackie you can't analyze the prophecy, it doesn't work like that. Maybe it was better if you hadn't heard the prophecy."

"How can you of all people say that?!"

"Jackie, you're going to kill yourself, calm down."

"I don't want to calm down!" She broke down into sobs and Jack pulled her into his arms.

"It's okay, just let it play out, you'll be fine." He said and kissed the top of her head. I folded my hand into a fist.

"I'll be fine; I'll just let it play out. Thank you Jack, for everything."

"Let's go." He pulled her to her feet and they walked to the door of the cabin. I raced to the bench and tried to act natural. Mia walked over and sat next to me. Once Jack and Jackie passed us, I relaxed.

"What'd you hear?" Mia asked eagerly.

"Something about a prophecy." I said.

"Oooo!" Mia cooed.

"Yeah, Jackie's apparently in it." I uttered.

"Did you find out why everyone was giving you dirty looks?" She asked.

"Sort of, she said something about 'beware the sons of Ares'" I shrugged.

"Oooo bad." She said happily.

"Why are you so happy about this?" I asked suspiciously.

"I'm not." She said trying to sound serious. I gave her a strange look.

"Right…" I uttered. I got up and started to approach Jackie when Jack stepped in front of me blocking my path. "Uh, hi?" I asked making a move to walk around him.

"Hi, yeah where are you going?" He asked.

"Uh, to talk to Jackie." I said confused, weren't they going to just let things play out? Why was Jack acting so protective now?

"Yeah, about that, she's not talking to people right now, so scram." Jack said pushing me away.

"Jack?" Jackie asked. "What in Zeus' name are you doing?"

"Uh, everything you just told me not to do." He scratched his head and lowered it in shame.

"What did you just want to talk to me about?" Jackie asked smiling.

"I was just wondering if you could show me to training." I asked covering up what I really wanted to ask.

"Sure." She said and pointed at the training arena.

"Thanks." I said and headed in that direction. I bit my lip. I had no idea what was going on. What was the prophecy about?

"Hey bozo." Vivian said jogging up next to me. "Your ten minutes late for training."

"Sorry, I've got my mind on something else." I covered.

"Other than training!?" She gasped and punched me.

"Yes and _ow_!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry, but so not sorry, your ten minutes late for training bozo!" Vivian grabbed my arm and pulled me to the arena.

"Sorry, ow ow ow ow." I whimpered.

"Drop and give me 100!" She ordered. I did quickly. She ten made me fight with Bernard who was the powerhouse of the Ares cabin. Punching him was like punching a brick wall plus he didn't even seem to feel it! My knuckles were bruised and split and one of my thumbs were bent at a right angle. It was broken.

"I am never going to be late for practice ever again." I swore.

"Good." Vivian said and handed me some ambrosia. I ate it and groaned as my thumb shifted back together. "Go to whatever you were doing when you were late for practice bozo." She snapped at me and talked to Bernard. I walked up to Jack and cracked my knuckles loudly.

"What?" He snapped at me. I punched him across the face.

"That's for being a jerk." I told him.

"Dude, you are asking for it." Jack stated.

"Define 'it'" I sneered.

"It; as being beaten to a pulp." He cracked his knuckles too. Jackie then raced in between us.

"Stop." She ordered.

"This little jerk is about to wish he had a mother." Jack sneered.

"You, I understand." Jackie said pointing to Jack. "But, you? I thought you knew better." She said turning on me.

"Can I now beat the little jerk to a pulp?" Jack asked.

"Ugh come on." Jackie said and pulled him away from me. That night I found a note sitting on my pillow.

Ben,

I really apologize for Jack's behavior today. He's not normally that angered. Though, sometimes if someone gets him as mad as you did he will fight them until they beg for mercy. Be glad that didn't happen to you. If you were looking for a fight then I am sorry I saved you from days in the infirmary. Maybe after Vivian trains you more you can take him on, but these times try to settle it in the arena. I really hate having to have people clean blood off the benches. Sometimes I have to do that and I always make the person who won help. If you get in any fights ever again just settle it in the arena, so nobody will have to do more work than they have too. Chiron is not our maid, just our teacher. So, if want to get blood on anything that is not in the arena be prepared to clean it up. I'm so sorry about Jack, he had just heard about a really bad day. Sorry again. Just stay clear of Jack for a bit okay? Sorry again and again!

Jackie

"Who's that from?" Vivian asked.

"Jackie." I said not feeling like lying.

"Oooo really?" She grabbed it from my hand.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Jack is always that angered!" Vivian exclaimed. "I agree you need more training before you can take on Jack or anyone after the poor show on Bernard." She gave the paper back to me.

"Thank you." I said and ripped it from her hand. "I wonder why she crossed this part out." I asked Vivian.

"She messed up in pen." Vivian stated.

"Just heard about?" I asked. "Awful weird mess up."

"Yeah, quit your jabber and go to bed, if you want to stay up all night go to the Athena cabin." Vivian said ripping the note away from me crumpling it up and throwing in the waste bin.

"I was still looking at that!" I protested.

"To bad." She snapped, "Now go to bed."

Mia

Ben wasn't talking to me. Why was he not talking to me? No idea. All his time was wasted trying to figure out what the stupid prophecy means. I mean he's not in it, so who cares. Not me. I don't understand what he is trying to do.

"Ben! Ben! Are you even listening to me?!" I screamed at him.

"Uh, I'm sorry could you repeat that last part?" He asked waking up from his thoughts.

"I said, we should head to the lake and we could go canoeing to get your mind off the stupid prophecy." I repeated.

"Sure, but the prophecy isn't stupid." He agreed.

"Whatever let's go." I said and grabbed his arm and dragged him to the lake. We picked a canoe and paddled out to the center of the lake.

"It's nice out here." He said in a sort of daze.

"Yes," I agreed. "Very romantic."

"I guess it could be." He shrugged.

"Of course it is." I snapped.

"We should head back to camp." He stated and started paddling. His paddle made little ripples in the, smooth as glass, lake. I joined and our paddles made little circles around us like a drop of paint on a canvas.

That night at campfire sparks flew into the air like confetti. Jack played the guitar and we sang. Soon, everyone began to trickle to their cabins. I walked back to the Aphrodite cabin with Lora.

"I can't seem to get Ben to notice me." I complained.

"Well, that's a first." Lora smirked. "You get gooey eyes almost everywhere you go." I stared at her with a look of shock clearly printed on my face.

"Really?" I asked astonished.

"Yup, but you are way too focused on capturing Ben's attention to take notice to anyone else. You're trying too hard, if Ben doesn't respond as fast as you want him too, maybe it would be time to move on to someone you won't ignore you. All I'm saying is that you deserve someone who doesn't ignore you and tries to make you happy rather then a person who can't take a hint and thinks you are still in the friend zone. Also, don't take the dude who is about as bright as oatmeal." She coached.

"Ben's as bright as oatmeal?" I laughed.

"Yes have you seen him?" She asked.

"Maybe not entirely." I sighed.

"Sleep on it." She said and slipped into her bunk. I climbed into mine and began to dream.

_I was sitting on a pillar listening to two giants speak to each other. _

_ "The prophecy is about to be fulfilled. Our lord will be raised!" One said._

_ "What if the girl stops him?" The smaller of the two asked. _

_ "Ah, the girl won't. We will make sure of that." The bigger one smiled showing broken rotting teeth. _

_ "Our lord will serve the boy, we will serve our lord and the boy will make us take down Olympus?" The smaller on scratched his head in confusion. _

_ "We will serve our lord and if our lord wants us to follow the boy's orders we will follow the boy." The larger one looked at the smaller one with mild distaste. _

_ "I don't like the idea of serving the boy. He seems like a less power, we shouldn't be serving a less power." The smaller one frowned. _

_ "WE WILL DO AS OUR LORD SAYS WE MUST DO!" The larger one bellowed. _

I woke in a cold sweat. The prophecy must be important, after that dream I was convinced of that. Who were the boy and girl? The question stayed in my mind as I got ready. At breakfast, Chiron made an announcement.

"Our camp is in danger, giants have found a break in our boundaries and we need to fix this problem. Hecate says she will fix it, but we must pay her a golden apple. Though we believe that someone has stole the apples, someone that we really don't want to run into. I have picked three brave campers to go get us an apple." Chiron announced. Everyone gasped.

"Who? Who is going?" We all demanded.

"Calm yourselves." Chiron coached. "Jackie, Ben and Fringe are going to get the apples. Jackie remember my warning, I can do nothing after you leave this camp."

"I understand." Jackie stated.

"Fringe it's your job to … you know." Chiron said.

"Amor is my specialty." Fringe shrugged.

"Ben, I picked you as the mussel, stay that way." Chiron stated.

"Do you doubt me?" Ben joked. "I've been here for two months."

"I might doubt you more than you expect." Chiron muttered. Almost nobody heard him though, because a roar of talk rumbled through the room.

"Chiron, why only three?" I asked him when everyone was talking.

"It's tradition." Chiron shrugged.

"Could you stretch it to four or thirty?" I asked.

"No!" He snapped.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Three is tradition and we can't break that, the only way to break it if there a prophecy that says more than three." He explained in an annoyed voice.

"Okay!" I smiled happily and walked away.

"Hey, Mia!" Ben called.

"Congrats, you're the mussel now." I smiled at him warmly as I could.

"Thanks, you know I might die though right?" He laughed.

"Let's not think that way." I snapped. He looked hurt for a second.

"Right, see you I need to go get ready." He left. I sighed. I couldn't do anything right.

Fringe

We left right after dinner taking the same bags as we did the last time we left camp, except only three this time. We walked, because Ben couldn't fly a pegasus.

"When we get to a bus stop we'll ride that to Utah." Jackie said.

"I can't believe that the apple tree is in Utah." I stated.

"Well, it at least was." Ben said quietly. "We don't know who took it."

"Mostly likely a titan." Jackie said. "It was probably Hyperion, but Koios could have taken it, because Hyperion wanted it. Each titan very easy to trail."

"How long until the bus stop?" Ben asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Does it look like I know everything?" Jackie snapped.

"Whoa, Jackie, you don't have to bite people's heads off calm down." I said.

"Sorry." Jackie mumbled bowing her head.

"Is that it?" Ben asked breaking the silence again. I looked up.

"No, that's a dumpster." I stated calmly.

"I knew that." Ben muttered blushing. We walked in silence for a bit more.

"I, never mind." Jackie said and no one else spoke.

"Why do you guys have necklaces of beads?" Ben asked.

"Each bead represents each year a camper has been at camp. Each bead looks different and had certain symbols carved into it to show what happened during that year and what we want to remember about it." Jackie explained. "For example, this bead," Jackie said fingering a scarlet one. "I got when I was ten years old. It is scarlet to show the battle with the Romans that year and the bloodshed. Carved into the bead are all the names of people that died." I reached my hand up and fingered the same bead I had hanging around my neck.

"Wow, um, I don't know what to say." Ben said.

"Nothing, that's the best thing you can say about this. Now, don't mention it again. It's kind of a touchy subject." I told him. He looked at me and then to Jackie, I followed his gaze. Jackie had tears clinging to the corners of her eyes.

"We all lost someone." I told her. She looked at me and then placed her middle and first fingers on her throat and drew them across it. I smiled.

"Don't speak about it." She snarled. I widened my smile.

"No problem." I smiled.

"I really hate you sometimes."

"Now, now, hate is a very strong word."

"I dislike you right now."

"You don't dis-"I started.

"Is that the bus stop?" Ben asked cutting me off.

"Yeah." Jackie said happily. I frowned at Ben and entered the bus handed the driver a ten I grabbed from Jackie's backpack. We all sat in the back of the bus in a seat made for six people across the back. We used the extra seats to hold our backpacks. Jackie dug around in hers and pulled out a headband. She pulled her hair back with it. I watched Ben stare at her. Jackie laced up her combat boots and handed me a ponytail. I pulled my hair back still staring at Ben.

"Why didn't we take a car again?" I asked.

"Because, the area where we are going people know me and they know I'm not sixteen and you can't drive." Jackie said.

"I could possibly drive." Ben said.

"Ben, rules state that a camper must be at camp for at least five years, also Chiron says the cars are too expensive to replace and we will most likely get rid of them." Jackie explained.

"And I should care?" He asked. Jackie sighed.

"A true son of Ares, they are _rules_ Ben." She said.

"And rules are rules." I added.

"Who really even cares about rules?" He asked.

"Offensive." Jackie complained.

"Jackie, you can't exactly call yourself a rule follower, you break them all the time." I said.

"Give me one example." She snapped.

"No two campers in a cabin alone, bugged my cabin while making weapons of mass destruction," I started.

"I brought coffee." She protested.

"Oh right. Umm what else, well you woke people up with cold water."

"That was during a prank war."

"Also, breaking the rules."

"Wasn't at the time!"


End file.
